I am a cooking instructor and health-supportive chef, with a specialty in handcrafting traditional farm-to-table cuisine.

When I cook privately with clients, my goal is to help them achieve a transformational shift in their health and well being, one that is directly connected to the foods they eat and how those foods are sourced and prepared. When I teach public cooking classes, I work to ensure that each student leaves with a new set of skills, and with a deeper awareness that cooking is not about attaining an ideal state of perfection in the kitchen or on the plate. It is, at its heart, a way to nourish yourself and those you love, and to express appreciation for those at your table.

My commitment to using the purest local, seasonal ingredients grown without pesticides means I cook as much as possible with produce that is grown in the gardens of small farmers who live nearby. Dairy products, when I use them, come from cows that are raised on local pasture, and eggs are gathered from hens that run free, eating grass and grubs.

While I favor artfully crafting food, I am adept at bringing cooking down to basics and keeping it simple when teaching others. In this way, I hope to provide an example of how we can all feed ourselves in ways that are delicious, respectful of all living creatures and the environment, grounded in culinary tradition, and supportive of lasting good health.

I received culinary training at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and the Culinary Arts. I also completed the Natural Gourmet's Food Therapy program, taught by Dr. Annemarie Colbin and focusing on using food as a tool for healing. I completed additional training at the Lukas Klinik, a cancer hospital in Arlesheim, Switzerland, and at the Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts cancer retreat program, based in Washington, DC.

I have studied food and healing for more than 25 years, with more than two decades of experience cooking for those with special dietary needs due to health conditions. I have also especially loved cooking for my family, including my three children, whose ages range from teen to adult.